Bulgarian Appellate Court Upholds 3-Year Jail Term for Yambol Mayor

The Burgas Appellate Court has upheld the prison term of 3 years and 8 months of Georgi Slavov, Mayor of the southeastern city of Yambol, over Public Procurement Act violations. Photo by BGNES

The Burgas Appellate Court has upheld the prison term of 3 years and 8 months of Georgi Slavov, Mayor of the southeastern city of Yambol, over Public Procurement Act violations.

The decision was issued Wednesday and has already been published on the website of the Burgas-based court.

The Burgas Appellate Court declared Slavov guilty of draining the municipal budget of nearly BGN 2 M in a public procurement deal for the construction of a water and sewer pipes of two streets to the benefit of a local construction company.

Apart from the prison term, Slavov will also be banned from assuming the office of Mayor for a period of 4 years and will have to cover the court expenses.

The Burgas Appellate Court upheld Wednesday the decision of the Yambol District Court from November 14, 2011, according to reports of the Bulgarian Telegraph Agency (BTA).

Three years ago, a different judge panel of the Yambol District Court declared Slavov guilty of the same offence and he was handed a 5-year prison sentence.

Following an appeal with the Burgas Appellate Court, the case was returned for retrial to the Yambol District Court.

The decision issued by the Burgas Appellate Court on Wednesday can be appealed or protested within 15 days at the Supreme Court of Cassation (VKS).

Meanwhile, Slavov was acquitted of a number of other counts of malfeasance in office and Public Procurement Act breaches, according to reports of the BGNES news agency.

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What a decision!!!!!!He will pay the Court fees, but will he return the money he "drained"???? He has to pay back these money which are the money of the taxpayers!!!!!!And after 4 years if elected he can start "draining" again???

And don't tell me the rest..............."And they all lived happily ever after"...................The stuff of fairytales.

Thanks for the run down Chushki. It's no wonder that the citizens of Bulgaria have had enough after being treated like mushrooms or "tikvi" for way too long, and seeing all the same old crap played out time and time again.

Unfortunately Tania, the way BG law operates is that despite conviction a first sentence can be appealed, and during the time of appeal the felon is set free, although very occasionally he is put under house arrest - the next game is that the appeal drags on and on for years (the defendent gets ''sick'', his lawyer is ''double booked'' on key days of the trial, a judge will withdraw etc), and then quite often after several months/years due to some archaic point of order the trial collapses and a re-trial is called. And then the process repeats itself until the right judges are appointed to preside and a complete acquittal takes place. All high profile/well connected organized crime figures/oligarchs/politicians always get acquitted in the end.

Chuski, I assumed he has already served time and is out on appeal. I read the story wrong.

So what you are saying is that 3 years ago he got 5 years sentence and he hasn't served any time yet. And now after re-trial he has a reduced sentence and has been aquitted of some charges, and can still appeal? And he still hasn't spent any time in jail yet?

Unfortunately Tania, the devil is in the detail.....the conviction can be ''appealed or protested within 15 days at the Supreme Court of Cassation (VKS).'' What you will find is that despite being first convicted and sentenced 3 years ago and (due to the vagaries of BG judicial system) never having spent a day in jail, Mr Slavov will indeed appeal and will be acquitted. Its a well worn path for the rich and infamous in Bulgaria....

Right; now I would suggest that they start investigating Varna's recently resigned Mayor of 4 terms, who has probably been colluding and involved with many of the TIM network. That should open up a can of worms or two, no doubt. One can only guess how much money is missing from the Varna municipality.